North Florida Sport Shot Series

Last updated 4/2/2024:  

About the NFSSS:

The North Florida Sport Shot Series (NFSSS) is a monthly scratch tournament played on sport shot oil patterns, yet we added a few fun twists to enhance the tournament experience. To emphasize the importance of spares, all entrants compete in our “Most Spares” contest for SMART scholarship funds each event. To gain experience bowling under pressure, at the end of each monthly event bowlers may participate in our “Knockout Challenge” contest for additional SMART scholarship awards.  Our Scholarship Finale in mid-May is open to all youth bowlers, while select qualifiers (those that entered in at least half of the monthly events that occurred during the season) will be awarded SMART funds from the year-end scholarship pool.

Our valued sponsors help us build up the scholarship pools awarded to our participating youth bowlers. Several bowling centers have donated into our scholarship pools, and the Bowl4Life Foundation is a returning sponsor too.  We are always seeking more sponsors to benefit the youth participants!

Be sure to follow us on our Facebook Page for the latest news!

2023-2024 NFSSS Tournament Schedule:

Check-in is from 9:00am-9:45am; Tournament starts promptly at 10:00am.

  • No event in September — we will begin our tournament season in October!
  • SUN OCT 8 at Yulee Bowling & Amusements
  • SUN NOV 5 at Bowlero Mandarin 
  • SUN DEC 11 at Palm Coast Lanes in Palm Coast.
  • No event in January 2023 due to Landen and City Tournaments — we encourage bowlers to enter the FL State Youth Leaders Landen Tournament on January 13-14 at Jensen Beach Bowl.
  • SUN FEB 18 at Batt Family Fun Center
  • SUN MAR 17 at Yulee Bowling & Amusements
  • SUN APR 14 at Bowlero Mandarin
  • SUN MAY 19 at Batt Family Fun Center (Scholarship Finale)

Overall Tournament Format: 5 games, moving lane pairs each game

Patterns: A different, certified Sport-Compliant pattern (ratio between 1:1 and 3.99:1) will be used at each tournament. To mimic Junior Gold, the pattern is kept a secret, even from the Tournament Directors, until after game 5 when it is revealed and announced to all.

Tournament Divisions: Seven — U12 Boys, U12 Girls, U15 Boys, U15 Girls, U18 Boys, U18 Girls, and U22 Mixed.  The six Junior Gold divisions (all but U22) may be combined by age group to meet the minimum number of entries (5) for the qualifier.  “Most Spares Contest” and “Knockout Challenge” are split into 2 divisions (boys and girls) but may be combined if less than 5 entries in either division. *NEW THIS YEAR* Bowlers may elect to ‘age up’ to bowl in a division of older bowlers during the regular season, but they must stay in that division for the rest of the season and finale.

Entry Fees (payable at check-in):

  • Entry Fee is $50/tournament ($20 lineage/expenses, $10 to each event’s divisional scholarship fund, $10 towards the side scholarship contests, and $10 to the year-end scholarship fund)
  • Optional Junior Gold Qualifier entry is $25 for U12, $37.50 for U15, $50 for U18 (Note: This is separate from the annual Junior Gold USBC national membership fee of $10 for U12 or $30 for U15/U18). The optional Gold Qualifier entry fees pay for entries to the National Tournament based on total entrants at a 1 in 4 ratio.

“Most Spares Contest”

The “Most Spares Contest” is a scholarship event built into the NFSSS monthly tournament.  All bowlers will be given a scoring sheet to record their scores “frame-by-frame” and tally their total spares over the 5 qualifying games.  The bowler(s) with the highest number of spares will win (or split, if there’s a tie) the announced scholarship pool.

“Knockout Challenge”

The “Knockout Challenge” is a fun scholarship event that takes place right after the qualifying round of each NFSSS monthly tournament.  All bowlers who wish to compete will be assigned to a group of lanes for the event, split by gender.  In each round of the challenge, contestants will throw one ball in effort to knock down at least the minimum number of pins required (Round 1 = 7 pins, Round 2 = 8 pins, Round 3 = 9 pins, Rounds 4+ = 10 pins); Advancers move to the next pair of lanes for the next round.  The last person standing in each gender division will be awarded the respective scholarship pool (NO TIES!).

Junior Gold Qualifier:

Each monthly tournament includes an optional Junior Gold Qualifier event.  The 5-game qualifying round scratch scores will be used to determine the entry winner(s), using an award ratio of 1:4 in each age/gender division.  Junior Gold divisions may be combined (by gender or age group) if there are not enough entrants (4) in a division; If there are still not enough Junior Gold entrants for age group, players will have the option to compete in a higher age division by paying the difference in JG entry fee OR the Junior Gold add-on fee will be refunded prior to the competition. Note: there are no qualifiers for U22 division bowlers. Also, the May Scholarship Finale offers s a 2024 Junior Gold Qualifier (not for 2023).

Scholarship Finale:

The Scholarship Finale event in May is open to all youth bowlers, who can compete for the usual monthly scholarship pools and side contests; however, bowlers that competed in at least half (3+) of the previous monthly NFSSS tournaments are eligible for the large year-end scholarship pool. The tournament format will be the same as monthly tournaments.  SMART scholarships will be awarded to all eligible bowlers at the discretion of the Tournament Directors, based on performance during the season and tournament (100% of funds are paid out to the bowlers).

Questions?

Please send all questions to the Tournament Director (listed below), via email to nfsssbowling@gmail.com or through this website’s homepage.

Tournament Director: Ryan Waters